1. The American West in the Late 1800s
CHANGES IN THE WEST

2. “Go West young man!”
Who does this create problems for?
By the 1840s most Native Americans lived west of the Mississippi River on land that was not desirable to whites
The California gold rush, the building of the Transcontinental RR, and the discovery of rich farmland on the Great Plains led to more whites moving west  more problems for Native Americans

4. NATIVE AMERICANS FIGHT BACK
From the 1850s to 1890, a series of wars were fought by Native Americans who were being forced onto reservations
Why would Native Americans fight being told to stay within certain boundaries?
Why would federal troops eventually win these wars?
Superior technology and divisions among tribes

5. THE SIOUX WARS
1865
Federal gov’t decides to build a road through Sioux territory, Sioux warriors resist violently leading to Red Cloud’s War
1867
War ends, Sioux agree to live on reservation in Dakota territory
1875
Federal gov’t allows miners to search for gold on Sioux res. Second Sioux War begins, Chief Sitting Bull leads many off reservation
1876
Sitting Bull’s warriors destroy Custer’s army at Battle of the Little Bighorn, more troops sent, most Sioux move onto reservations
1890
At the Massacre of Wounded Knee, Am. Soldiers open fire on unarmed Sioux killing almost 300

7.
America the Story of US - Last of Sioux

8. DAWES ACT 1887
Assimilation – plan for Native Americans to give up their way of life and be part of white culture, “Americanized”
The Act broke up reservations to give to individual Native Americans
By 1932 whites had about 2/3 of this territory, Natives had no land, and no money

9. DESTRUCTION OF BUFFALO
Tourists, fur traders, and buffalo hunters destroyed the Plains Indians’ main source of food, clothing, shelter, and fuel
# of buffalo on Plains went from 65 million in 1800 to lest than 1000 by 1890!

10. America Story of US - Last Buffalo
TREATMENT OF INDIANS

11. TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
The Union Pacific and Central Pacific RR companies, with a lot of federal $, build a RR from the western Plains to the Pacific Ocean
Completed in 1869, it opens the west to settlers
Congress gives the RR companies land grants to build, and sells other land to ordinary Americans
From , RR tracks increase from 35,000 miles to 260,000 miles

13. COWBOYS, GOLD MINERS, AND PIONEERS
Cattle become big business on the Great Plains
Cowboys learn from Mexican ranchers
Texas longhorns brought from Spain
Chaparreras (leather overalls) – chaps
Charqui – jerky
Bronco caballo (rough horse) – bronco
Mestenos (stray horses) – mustangs
Vaquero – buckaroo
Rancho, rodeo, corral

14. 25% of cowboys were African American
12% were Mexican

15. After the Civil War, demand for beef grew in growing cities
When railroads reached the Plains, cattle could be shipped from cities like Abilene and Dodge City Kansas to stock yards and meat packing centers like Chicago
Farmers sometimes angered ranchers, who preferred grazing their cattle on the “open range.” by using barbed wire to fence off their lands
Gun battles broke out between different factions of ranchers, farmers, vigilantes and outlaws  The Wild West

16. PIONEERS
1862 Homestead Act gave 160 acres of free land to any citizen head of household
600,000 families move west between
Several thousand were exodusters - freed slaves who wanted to leave post-Reconstruction South

17. SOONER STATE
1889 land giveaway led to thousands to grab 2 million acres in a massive land rush
Some took land sooner than they were supposed to
Far and Away - Land Rush Scene – YouTube
The frontier is gone by 1890

18. CHALLENGES ON THE PLAINS
Droughts, floods, blizzards, fires, and locust plagues, oh my!
Settlers built dugout homes and soddies and had to be very self-sufficient

19. Donner Party America The Story of Us — History.com Videos

20. NEW TECHNOLOGY 1837 Steel plow – John Deere
1847 reaper – Cyrus McCormick
1874 barbed wire
1841 grain drill to plant seeds
1850s mowing, threshing and haying machines
1880s giant harvester and thresher combine

21. FARMERS IN DEBT
Farmland was free or very cheap, but machines, tools, buildings, seeds, horses and transportation on RRs to markets were not
Farmers were forced to take out loans from banks and credit from merchants
Several years of bad weather, poor crops and low prices left farmers unable to repay their debts
Banks would take possession of their farms  foreclosure
FARMERS OF THE WEST, UNITE!